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THE SKIES HAVE NEVER BEEN SO TURBULENT for private jets. First came the awful economy, then the public-relations disaster that unfolded when Detroit's Big

Three CEOs flew their jets to Washington to plead for bailouts. Result: a sharp descent for private aviation -- and a huge tailwind for bargain hunters.

Whether you are looking to charter a jet, buy one or pick up a fractional interest, prices are down anywhere from 20% to 50% from a couple of years ago. "Where are the deals in this market? I'd say, 'Where are they not?'" says Bryan Comstock, president of Jeteffect, a Los Angeles-based brokerage of used aircraft. "There has been an across-the-board price drop on everything."

Contrary to the populist sentiments of the day, flying aboard your own jet can still be a smart way to travel (see story, "In Defense of Your Own Plane"). That is especially true if you are a busy, well-compensated executive who needs to make the most of travel time. And yes, there are still busy people out there. Here, then, is a guide to the deals of a lifetime.

Charter Flights

A major drawback to chartering jets back in the old days -- a few months ago -- was that, unlike fractional ownership and jet-card programs, it didn't provide "guaranteed availability." A jet simply might not be there when you needed it. But that has changed dramatically, and it is easy to see why: The volume of charter flights was off 47% in February from a year ago, according to Cincinnati-based Aviation Research Group/U.S. That has not only eliminated jet-availability problems but produced huge price cuts.

"There are tremendous deals across the board, on all routes and all aircraft types," says Nate McKelvey of jets.com, which operates a major charter-auction Website. "There is really no logic to it."

Two years ago, it wasn't uncommon to pay as much as $40,000 to charter a Cessna Citation X coast to coast, McKelvey noted. Now, he says, there are guaranteed rates of $19,000 cross-country.

One such deal: XOJet, a company based in San Carlos, Calif., rolled out all-inclusive $19,000 transcontinental charter packages aboard its owned and operated fleet of new Citation X jets (the world's fastest civilian aircraft, with a seating capacity of up to eight people). The price includes ground transportation, standard catering and unlimited worldwide phone-calling.

Cessna Citation Mustang

"Everybody is willing to negotiate," McKelvey says. "Before it was [customers asking], 'Can you get a premium jet? Is a jet even available?' Today it is, 'How good of a deal can you get me?' "

The longer the trip, the better the deal that customers can negotiate. And short hops that charter companies used to avoid are no longer declined. Minimum daily usage-time assessments for trips during which a jet sits on the ground a day or more are being waived, as are fuel surcharges. Even without lower charter rates, these savings alone can add up to tens of thousands of dollars in a single trip.

Jet-Pooling

The air-taxi concept, which promised low-cost seats on shared flights aboard the new generation of relatively inexpensive, very light jets (VLJs), hasn't panned out so far. In fact, the pioneer of air taxis, DayJet, has declared bankruptcy. But the demand for low-cost private aviation has merged with social networking in nascent "jet pool" networks. These services aim to use the Internet to link people with private-jet flights taking additional passengers.

"I've been in the aircraft-management and charter business for a decade, and I've always had customers asking if they could jump on a seat on an aircraft that is already going where they want to go," says Jamie Walker, founder and CEO of CoGoJets, a planned flight-sharing service that he says will be operational soon. Walker has spent several years working with the Federal Aviation Administration to overcome regulatory hurdles for the service. "We hope to reach a critical mass as soon as May," he says.

Another network, Jet Charter Pool, is arranging flights even as it tries to build up its database to make the service self-sustaining. John Volz, a retired mail carrier from Seattle, and his wife, Svetlana, used the service to book a first-ever charter flight, traveling to Kona, Hawaii, aboard a Citation X for $13,000.

"Our dog is kind of touchy, so we didn't want to use commercial," Volz said on the phone from Kona. "We checked out several [jet providers] on the Internet. The others were up to $28,000." Better still, there were no other passengers on the plane.

Asked why Volz's rate was so low, considering that he didn't have to share the aircraft, Jet Charter Pool founder Sam Chanana pointed to the fact that multiple operators compete for his members' business. He added that he makes money only on membership fees and prefers that members pay charter operators directly.

Used Aircraft

In this recession, pre-owned aircraft prices have taken a bigger hit than any other part of the industry.

Just a year ago, demand was so strong for the Gulfsteam G550 that people were paying $60 million for used ones rather than waiting in long lines for new ones, which cost $52 million, says Dennis Rousseau, founder and president of the aircraft-sales data-tracking service Aircraft Post. "Emotional surges drove the prices up, and an emotional surge is driving them back down," he says.

Comstock, the Los Angeles broker, agrees. "We're seeing some ridiculous prices," he says. "A fellow bought a [Gulfstream] GV out of this country last year, and he paid about $46 million for it. He sold it for $28 million recently.

He added that a Beechcraft Hawker 800XP of a Fortune 500 company was listed at $3.5 million, "at least a half-price sale from where it would have traded at the peak." According to Aircraft Post, which is available online for $12,000 per year, 55 of the 438 Hawker 800XPs built are for sale, at asking prices ranging from $4.4 million to $11.3 million. The midsized jets are typically configured to seat six to 10 passengers.

Comstock's advice to shoppers: "Just make an offer. If you make it well below the asking price, you are going to get a counter, and it only takes that one seller to say 'yes.' That is somewhat beneficial to the market, too; with so few being traded, it helps establish the market price."

Sellers who own aircraft outright may be more willing to take a low offer than those who have a note on their planes. With the drop in values, the latter could be underwater on their loans and unwilling to dig into their pockets to make up the difference at closing.

Industrywide, fractional flight activity declined 28% in February from a year earlier, according to ARG/US, as some owners have had to cut costs and relinquish their jets. That creates buying opportunities in the shared-ownership space, where you can buy stakes as small as one-sixteenth of a jet.

"Some owners have been forced to sell back their shares just because of the economic situation, at a price based on the current market," says ARG/US president Joseph Moeggenberg. "So when the fractional provider resells at a fair market value, it could be substantially less than what a buyer had to pay a few weeks ago." That is a clear sign of just how fragile the private-aviation market has become.

"By accounting rules, we base a share on the price of the aircraft," says Fred Reid, president of Flexjet, Bombardier's Richardson, Texas-based fractional, jet-card and aircraft-management arm. "If we have an early exit in year three [of an owner's five-year contract], then we have a share to sell on a used aircraft, and based on Bluebook value, yes, it is a better deal than it has been historically."

Take the example of a one-sixteenth share -- entitling an owner to 50 flight hours per year. Before the downturn in the market, such a share in a three-year-old Learjet 40XR light jet was valued at $535,000, according to Flexjet. Today that same share sells for $430,000, a reduction of about 20%.

Barron's in collaboration with Business Jet Traveler magazine examines how the corporate-jet market is faring in the recession.

And in this environment, fractional customers new and old can wrangle additional concessions. "Anyone going into fractionals now has negotiating leverage with the providers, and even fractional owners that are already in programs can negotiate for additional concessions," says James Butler, chief executive of Shaircraft Solutions, a private-jet travel consultancy in Maryland."We are [renegotiating contracts] for clients with all the major providers."

Butler advises buyers to negotiate concessions that add value or cut costs in areas related to their specific needs. In other words, don't ask for deals just because you heard someone else got them. If a fractional provider has a one-hour flight-charge minimum, and you want to make a few short flights during the contract period, ask for a set number of short-leg waivers. If you fly mostly around one region in a light jet but make a couple of transcontinental flights per year, request a guaranteed upgrade to a large-cabin aircraft for those flights.

Jet Cards

Over the past few years, the popularity of jet cards, which entitle the holder to a set number of hours in the air, has grown at the expense of fractional programs, primarily because jet cards require no long-term commitments and less capital investment than fractional shares. But the jet-card sector is hardly immune to pricing pressures.

In March, Cleveland-based Flight Options lowered the price on its JetPASS program and eliminated fuel surcharges and some operating restrictions. Flight time now costs a flat $4,600 per hour in a light jet, $6,590 in a mid-size cabin, $8,350 in a super mid-size and $9,663 in a large-cabin jet. A light jet formerly ranged from $5,500 to $6,475 per hour for peak and high-demand travel time, and a large cabin jet was $11,225 to $13,200.

Flexjet has introduced a round-trip pricing program for 100-hour jet-card holders that cuts hourly costs on qualifying flights by 15%. And the company's 25-hour card can now be purchased in two $54,000 installments.

Learjet 45XR

New Airplanes

The price of new airplanes hasn't dropped yet, but some manufacturers are throwing in cockpit and cabin upgrades, maintenance support, crew training and other extras to spur sales. And today, you often don't have to wait for delivery -- a big change from the boom times.

"Now is the time to get it if you want a jet quickly," says Doug Oliver of Wichita, Kan.-based Cessna, manufacturer of Citation business jets. "The downturn has made aircraft available immediately. Six months ago, there was still a waiting list of two to three years, and that has pretty much evaporated."

Furthermore, favorable depreciation rules in the federal government's new economic-stimulus program can provide significant tax savings for aircraft used for business, as long as they are put into service before 2011. The accelerated depreciation allows half the value of the aircraft to be written off in the first year, providing a big tax benefit up front, though the total tax benefit over the depreciable life of the aircraft remains the same. Fractional shares of new aircraft are also eligible for accelerated depreciation.

For those who don't need a new jet today, Cessna is offering a deal on trade-ins. Under the plan, Cessna will credit the entire purchase price of a pre-owned Cessna jet toward a new Citation if the pre-owned plane is traded in within two years.

While manufacturers are holding the line on prices, brand-new jets nevertheless can be found below cost. These opportunities exist in the murky market for "delivery positions." Though manufacturers try to prohibit the practice, the position market thrived when a long waiting list for new jets existed. A speculator put down a deposit for a jet with no intention of taking delivery, and instead sold his position in line at a profit to a buyer who didn't want to go to the back of the line to get a new jet. But in the current market, some of these speculators are getting caught with positions but no potential buyers.

Gulfstream G500

A speculator in this jam might enlist the help of an aircraft broker. Though brokers are reluctant to publicize such business, as it antagonizes aircraft makers and can create legal complications, a buyer interested in purchasing a position just has to call aircraft brokers and make an inquiry.

"Right now, you can buy a position at a discount from somebody who is trying not to lose their deposit," says a salesperson who deals in delivery positions at a major aircraft brokerage but requested anonymity. "I have sold a couple of airplanes substantially under what the original contract was, and the seller got back part of the deposit. We closed on one two weeks ago."

This strategy carries some legal risk, since aircraft manufacturers sometimes threaten to block such deals. But "no matter how smart the sales force is, people buying positions are smarter; they have got lawyers and brokers," the broker says. "To me, [the manufacturers] ought to buy into [the delivery-position market] and control it."

Ready for Takeoff

Bargains aside, your key objective should be to find a program and aircraft that is right for your needs. Otherwise, no matter how inexpensive a flight is compared with what it used to be, it can cost you much more than you saved, perhaps because you bought too small or too large, or chartered when a jet card would have made more sense.

And whether you are chartering a single flight or buying a large-cabin aircraft outright, it is important to conduct due diligence on all aspects of the transaction. Avail yourself of consultants, attorneys and tax specialists with business- aircraft experience. They are often the biggest bargain of all when it comes to saving money and operating prudently in the world of business aviation.